Pageant

Pageant, word which has over the centuries completely changed its meaning, though retaining always its connection with the idea of ‘pageantry’. In medieval times in England it was used variously to describe the ‘carts’, each one manned and decorated by a different guild, which carried the notables of the city in procession on civic occasions; the last vestige of this is the procession on Lord Mayor's Day, dating from the 13th century, which still takes place in London early in November. ‘Pageant’ was also the word applied to those fixed points within a city's walls at which an entertainment could be given to welcome important visitors. Such places were the market cross with its steps, any raised permanent structure such as a water conduit, and the space above and around the city gates, often augmented by the use of scaffolding. By extension it was then applied to the ‘pageant wagon’, a wheeled vehicle on which a scene from a religious play could be performed before an audience assembled at a fixed point before being drawn away to perform the same scene at another pre-arranged station, usually a crossroads, a market square, or other open space. These ‘pageants’ or perambulating stages, which were very popular in England during the period covered by the liturgical drama, were usually two-storied, the lower story being curtained off to serve as a dressing-room for the actors, though it could on occasion represent Hell.

A further use of the word ‘pageant’ was to describe the elaborate structures of wood and painted canvas used in the Tudor masques. These were often ingenious machines, fixed or movable, designed and built at considerable expense for the purposes of a single night's entertainment.

Early in the 20th century there arose a passion for elaborate and partly processional open-air shows celebrating the history or legends of a particular town, and these were referred to as ‘pageants’. The first was produced by Louis N. Parker at Sherborne in 1905, and it was followed by many others. The performers were usually amateurs, townspeople and school-children, directed by a professional who was responsible for the songs, dances, and short interludes of dialogue which made up the whole, including sometimes re-enactments of medieval joustings and tournaments. The performances usually took place in a large park, or in the countryside beyond the city boundaries, and it was usual for the properties and costumes to be made by the local population.

From the countryside the pageant soon spread to the theatre, and during the First World War several patriotic pageants were produced in London. In 1918 Drury Lane celebrated its own history in The Pageant of Drury Lane.